Agenda: Class 2: Who is Teaching in Our Schools?


Objectives/Learning Goals

  • Identify characteristics of professions to argue for or against a profession of teaching.
  • Articulate influences on teacher supply & demand.

Instructional Activities


  • Think About This: Based on what you hear in the news, what types of teachers are in most demand? How does this relate to what you read?
  • Student Survey recap
  • Small Group Activity: Work in groups of 5 to discuss one of the questions below. Create a visual representation of what you discuss and prepare to share one idea.
    • 1: What are the characteristics of a profession? Should teaching be recognized as a profession? Why or why not?
    • 2: Why do shortages of teachers exist in some areas and not in others? What areas of teaching will experience shortages in ten years? Why or why not?
    • 3: What supports should schools and districts provide in order to retain new teachers in the difficult "induction" period?
    • 4: What inconsistencies or trends did you notice in the data discussed on pp 7-9? Based on your own school experiences, how could these trends or inconsistencies be explained?
    • 5: How can knowledge of trends in teacher demand help us prepare to enter the teaching profession?
  • Have each group share one idea from their discussion artifact.
Collect artifacts to post on website.
  • Introduce URITeacherknowledge
    • Introduce wikispace idea. - show wikispace URL
    • Demo profile posting.
  • Preview of the rest of Ch 1.
  • Closing Assessment: What did you learn and how can YOU use this knowledge?